Beekissed
Mountain Sage
I went for a two hour tour of Joel's place today, folks, and I promised to report on what it was like. I have several pics to download but I will have to save that for another day...you know..dial-up... 
It was raining cats and dogs there and very cold..40s-50s...very foggy and just downright miserable!
Now, you all know I'm a big fan of Salatin's, so this report is very much coming from someone who had a favorable view of the man and his methods. Still admire his methods... :/
To be fair, I realize he is in the business of making money and he is involved with the public a lot. I know how this is and I too get a little weary and jaded at times. He is an engaging speaker and a vibrant and eloquent man.
I also found him to be inconsiderate, arrogant and I got the real sense that he is somewhat a miser and, at the root of it all, very much into the money more than the ministry or mission.
That's just my opinion, and I'm sure one cannot get all of that in just two hours on his farm but I did come away from the experience with a bad taste in my mouth...and that is saying a lot coming from someone who admires this man's books and farming methods like I do.
I saw overcrowding in his chicken setups, poor management of chicken to nest box ratio, cannibalism and his layers were small and not at all healthy looking. His eggs were all filthy....too filthy to clean without removing the bloom.
His pastures were lovely and the cattle all looked very healthy.
His farm was unkempt, overgrown with weeds around buildings and along where the public had to walk. The same area seriously needed gravel for one to walk easily and safely but was all mud and ruts full of water. Yes, I'm aware that farms are like that....but if you are going to make people walk around in the pouring rain in these areas, you can pry open your wallet long enough to gravel the main driving/walking areas directly around the buildings.
The website said the tour would be via hay wagon, rain or shine. Well, there were about 60 people, women, children and older people..even babies. When we arrived he said that he didn't want to get his tractor wet, nor his haybales, so we were going to walk the tour! If I had known this in advance I would have brought my farm boots...everyone else were even less prepared and were wearing what city folks wear when they observe things...expensive leather shoes, slide ons, lightweight attire, etc.
C'mon!!!! Didn't want to get his tractor wet??? Waste his haybales when his hay storage is absolutely HUGE and half full of last year's hay??? How many bales would it take to put seats on a hay wagon??? Can we say "miser" , boys and girls?
I felt so sorry for the people who had small children...he didn't seem the least bit concerned and was quite abrupt in his manner towards the small ones. I heard one couple say they had driven for 10 hours to get there....this man can't waste a few old hay bales for people who drove that far, stood in the pouring rain for 2 hours, walked through liquid cow pats, wet pasture to their knees, slopped through red clay mud to a hog pasture, and waded puddles over their shoes to get to his barn?
The rabbit pens were clean but there were no boards for them to get on to get off the wire, there was a young rabbit in the middle of gasping its last breath in one of the cages and being trampled by other rabbits. The same building was full of feather picked Australorps(way too full~I'll post pics) who were laying their eggs in the deep litter for lack of available nests, were severely overstocked and were in this dark building.....no pasturing there.
The pastured layers had more room but the building and shelter was also too small for the number of birds...they too were very bald butted and bare-necked...small and not doing much ranging and foraging compared to my small flock. Also not enough nest boxes for the number of chickens, with two birds crammed into the same nest, eggs layed on the ground, etc.
I got the impression that, like the big boys, greed under the guise of trying to meet demand, has caused this person to have more livestock per sq. ft. in his buildings than is healthy. The only difference was they were open air buildings and the others were on pasture.
The broilers were in open tractors on pasture that looked like a mown lawn...not much tender greens for young birds to forage there. Mostly, I think this is done so that he can sell pastured broilers and doesn't have to house them and clean up after them. I saw no real foraging while I was observing them....granted CX are not real great foragers...but they won't forage with continuous feed in front of them and these had it.
My CX of the same age are considerably bigger, more feathered out and more active. They get fed once a day and the rest has to be foraged. Needless to say, I wasn't real impressed.
Now...for the kicker...hamburger was $4.50 a lb. Yes...you heard me. :/ Now...this is not organic meat, but it is raised naturally and organically in the process, so I know it sells for a higher price. But THAT high????
Top round steak was $25 per lb. 
He tells the nation to eat locally, eat cleaner foods and then jacks the price so that only the rich can afford it. That is no different than anywhere else in the world....corner a market and charge a king's ransom for it.
He was correct about one thing...his operation had little to no smell, despite the overcrowding in the hoop houses.
When asked questions from people who wanted to know farming related things, he was brusque and dismissive....both people asking these questions were women(one of which was me!)...maybe he didn't think women should be farming?
Not sure, but he spent much more time and charm on questions that were asked by people who were quite obviously city, or urban, people with no farming knowledge or experience.
What I saw at this farm was lush pasture, great ideas for rotating different species on the same pasture, natural ways of building the soil, farming on the extreme cheap with no, nada, NONE, money spent on appearances or public comfort, severely overpriced meats and a man who made $300 per hr. showing city folks around his farm and saying the exact same things he's been writing about for more than a decade. Then the people gladly bought over a couple thousand dollars worth of his meats. They left soaked, cold, muddy, covered in manure and they got to see bunnies and chicks. I'm sure they were happy to have seen a real farm.
Me? I saw behind the curtain in the golden city of Oz....
I'll post pics soonest!
It was raining cats and dogs there and very cold..40s-50s...very foggy and just downright miserable!
Now, you all know I'm a big fan of Salatin's, so this report is very much coming from someone who had a favorable view of the man and his methods. Still admire his methods... :/
To be fair, I realize he is in the business of making money and he is involved with the public a lot. I know how this is and I too get a little weary and jaded at times. He is an engaging speaker and a vibrant and eloquent man.
I also found him to be inconsiderate, arrogant and I got the real sense that he is somewhat a miser and, at the root of it all, very much into the money more than the ministry or mission.
That's just my opinion, and I'm sure one cannot get all of that in just two hours on his farm but I did come away from the experience with a bad taste in my mouth...and that is saying a lot coming from someone who admires this man's books and farming methods like I do.
I saw overcrowding in his chicken setups, poor management of chicken to nest box ratio, cannibalism and his layers were small and not at all healthy looking. His eggs were all filthy....too filthy to clean without removing the bloom.
His pastures were lovely and the cattle all looked very healthy.
His farm was unkempt, overgrown with weeds around buildings and along where the public had to walk. The same area seriously needed gravel for one to walk easily and safely but was all mud and ruts full of water. Yes, I'm aware that farms are like that....but if you are going to make people walk around in the pouring rain in these areas, you can pry open your wallet long enough to gravel the main driving/walking areas directly around the buildings.
The website said the tour would be via hay wagon, rain or shine. Well, there were about 60 people, women, children and older people..even babies. When we arrived he said that he didn't want to get his tractor wet, nor his haybales, so we were going to walk the tour! If I had known this in advance I would have brought my farm boots...everyone else were even less prepared and were wearing what city folks wear when they observe things...expensive leather shoes, slide ons, lightweight attire, etc.
C'mon!!!! Didn't want to get his tractor wet??? Waste his haybales when his hay storage is absolutely HUGE and half full of last year's hay??? How many bales would it take to put seats on a hay wagon??? Can we say "miser" , boys and girls?
I felt so sorry for the people who had small children...he didn't seem the least bit concerned and was quite abrupt in his manner towards the small ones. I heard one couple say they had driven for 10 hours to get there....this man can't waste a few old hay bales for people who drove that far, stood in the pouring rain for 2 hours, walked through liquid cow pats, wet pasture to their knees, slopped through red clay mud to a hog pasture, and waded puddles over their shoes to get to his barn?
The rabbit pens were clean but there were no boards for them to get on to get off the wire, there was a young rabbit in the middle of gasping its last breath in one of the cages and being trampled by other rabbits. The same building was full of feather picked Australorps(way too full~I'll post pics) who were laying their eggs in the deep litter for lack of available nests, were severely overstocked and were in this dark building.....no pasturing there.
The pastured layers had more room but the building and shelter was also too small for the number of birds...they too were very bald butted and bare-necked...small and not doing much ranging and foraging compared to my small flock. Also not enough nest boxes for the number of chickens, with two birds crammed into the same nest, eggs layed on the ground, etc.
I got the impression that, like the big boys, greed under the guise of trying to meet demand, has caused this person to have more livestock per sq. ft. in his buildings than is healthy. The only difference was they were open air buildings and the others were on pasture.
The broilers were in open tractors on pasture that looked like a mown lawn...not much tender greens for young birds to forage there. Mostly, I think this is done so that he can sell pastured broilers and doesn't have to house them and clean up after them. I saw no real foraging while I was observing them....granted CX are not real great foragers...but they won't forage with continuous feed in front of them and these had it.
My CX of the same age are considerably bigger, more feathered out and more active. They get fed once a day and the rest has to be foraged. Needless to say, I wasn't real impressed.
Now...for the kicker...hamburger was $4.50 a lb. Yes...you heard me. :/ Now...this is not organic meat, but it is raised naturally and organically in the process, so I know it sells for a higher price. But THAT high????
Top round steak was $25 per lb. He tells the nation to eat locally, eat cleaner foods and then jacks the price so that only the rich can afford it. That is no different than anywhere else in the world....corner a market and charge a king's ransom for it.
He was correct about one thing...his operation had little to no smell, despite the overcrowding in the hoop houses.
When asked questions from people who wanted to know farming related things, he was brusque and dismissive....both people asking these questions were women(one of which was me!)...maybe he didn't think women should be farming?
Not sure, but he spent much more time and charm on questions that were asked by people who were quite obviously city, or urban, people with no farming knowledge or experience.
What I saw at this farm was lush pasture, great ideas for rotating different species on the same pasture, natural ways of building the soil, farming on the extreme cheap with no, nada, NONE, money spent on appearances or public comfort, severely overpriced meats and a man who made $300 per hr. showing city folks around his farm and saying the exact same things he's been writing about for more than a decade. Then the people gladly bought over a couple thousand dollars worth of his meats. They left soaked, cold, muddy, covered in manure and they got to see bunnies and chicks. I'm sure they were happy to have seen a real farm.
Me? I saw behind the curtain in the golden city of Oz....
I'll post pics soonest!
waiting for pictures! 
